If you haven’t been paying attention to SOPA or PIPA then I recommend you do some reading up on the issues themselves. I recommend the following links:
- SOPA at Wikipedia
- PIPA at Wikipedia
- More about SOPA and PIPA at Google
- SOPA Resistance Day at Ars Technica
There is a ton more out there, so make yourself knowledgable … and by doing so more knowledgeable than most of Congress as well.
I’m completely and totally against SOPA/PIPA and anything like it for a number of reasons, but for me it boils down to these few:
- The internet is an international network and these pieces of legislation give the USA more power over it
- It denies the realities that we live in a different time period with different technologies than the 20th century
- It gives the government more power
- It gives corporations (mainly, media corporations, but really any) more power
- It moves us another step (or four) closer to the sorts of restrictions the governments of Iran, China, etc. impose on their citizens
You can get into the technical details of why it is bad for the internet and why it won’t, ultimately, do anything to stop piracy, but those five reasons are why I am philosophically opposed to any legislation like SOPA/PIPA.
Please, contact your members of congress today and let them know that you want them to oppose these specific pieces of legislation and any future pieces that are like it.
Check out SOPA Track to find out who your Representatives and Senators are along with where their funding has come from and let them know what you think.